


When You Need a Lift

by PoolWatcher



Series: Need a Lift [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-08
Updated: 2012-03-08
Packaged: 2017-11-01 15:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/358337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoolWatcher/pseuds/PoolWatcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots of the evolution of a childhood friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Need a Lift

Something about her caught his attention. Maybe it was the way she seemed to make herself smaller than all of the other girls in the class. And he found her to be kind of cute, in that kindergarten-mentality kind of way. He watched her from across the playground; she had been trying to reach the monkey bars for several minutes now. Cautiously he walked over to her and asked, "Need a lift?"

* * *

She winced as the paper hit her in the back of the head and fought back the onset of tears. The sound of someone trying to quietly get her attention distracted her.

"Sheila! Psst!" The whisper was coming from a few seats behind her, a voice she knew well.

"What, Simmons?" she whispered back, praying the teacher wouldn't yell at them. At least it wasn't a test...

"Read the note," he practically mouthed to her, pointing at the tightly folded piece of paper under her chair. Surprised, she did as commanded.

'Movie night, my house, tonight,' it read. 'Wanna come?' A small, hesitant smile spread across her features as she wrote her response.

'Sure! Where, when, and should I bring anything?' She waited for a few minutes after folding the note pack up and pushing it with her foot towards him before she heard his whisper and looked beneath her seat.

'It's gonna be you, me, some of the guys, and Alison,' read the reply. 'My house (see map on reverse), at 7. Maybe bring a dessert?' Turning the paper over she encountered a rather well-drawn map indicating his house in relation to the middle school. Her heart sank. There was no way she could walk halfway across town by herself, and her parents certainly wouldn't drive her over there just for a movie.

Sighing, she took out a fresh piece of paper. 'Can't go,' she wrote. 'I have no way to get there. Sorry.' Folding the note up intricately as every middle school girl automatically knows, she slid the note back to him. Before she could blink the reply was at her feet, and, with a sinking feeling, she opened it.

'So you need a lift, huh? Well, you can walk home with me after school, and my dad can ride you home after, no prob!'

She turned around to face him in disbelief. He was watching her anxiously, a small light of hope in his brown eyes. 'Really?' she mouthed, and he nodded earnestly in return. 'Then yes,' she replied silently. A huge grin broke out on his face.

* * *

He spotted her on the other side of the football field and absolutely failed to catch her eye. She was wearing the colors for the other school anyway, and he doubted she'd be looking for guys in the crowd. Sighing, he started to push his way through the massive homecoming crowd towards her. It was difficult to keep track of her gray and blue letter jacket in the press of people, and he lost sight of her after several minutes.

"Shit," he muttered, and leaned up against the fence, ignoring the game behind him. He idly scanned the crowd before him, a feeling of resigned depression falling over him. If she was who he thought she was, he hadn't seen her since the end of 7th grade; she'd moved away that summer and hadn't hardly told anyone.

"Excuse me," said a voice next to him, and he automatically made room on the fence, giving the person nothing more than a cursory glance as he did so. It took his brain several seconds to register the young woman's blonde hair and gray and blue jacket. When it did, he turned back to her in shock.

"Sheila?" he asked incredulously. The young woman turned to him in surprise.

"Do I know you?" she asked as she inpected his features. He fumbled for his words under her gaze.

"I...uh, that is..we, uh, went to elemtary school together. I'm...Dick Simmons." Mentally he berated himself, knowing that that did not go at all as planned. His expression remained hopeful as she stared at him, taking in his red and blue letter jacket, slightly tanned skin, and shaggy brown hair. Slowly, the light dawned in her eyes.

"Simmons? You had that movie night in 7th grade..." She grinned happily at him and then, without warning, threw her arms around him in a hug. He stumbled back slightly in surprise, knocking into the people behind him. In a few moments she had released him and stepped back, smiling broadly.

"I...I'm having a little get-together tonight," she said, her expression turning a little shy. "Do you...want to come?" She looked at hime with hope shining in her eyes, and he knew he could never resist her. He paused, though, as he tried to get his thoughts into working order.

"I don't know where you live," he finally responded. Her face fell for a moment.

"I can give you a ride," she returned, brightening. A smile graced his features.

"Sure, then." SHe grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the crowd. "Where are we going?" he asked as he tried to keep up and keep his balance as well. She shot him a look over her shoulder that said their destination should have been obvious.

"To my car, silly," she said as she pulled him through the gates of the stadium. She didn't stop until they were in front of a bright blue Hummer. He wondered what was going on until he saw her pull some keys out of her jacket pocket.

"This is yours?" His surprise showed clearly on his face, and she paused in opening the driver's door to gaze at the ground bashfully.

"It was a gift from my uncle. He didn't really know what to get a niece for a graduation present, so..." She shrugged. "I ended up with the Tank," she said, indicating the vehicle with her head. He was about to ask her about the name of the Hummer when she climbed into it. "Coming?" she asked with a slight grin.

"Guess so," he replied with a chuckle, and he climbed into the vehicle.

* * *

She knew he wasn't going to be home, but that didn't stop her from looking for his car in the driveway as she pulled up to the house they shared with a few friends. It wasn't there, like she know it wouldn't be, and she sighed as she parked the Tank. "Better see what Donut's put together for dinner," she said to herself, trying to hide the lonely ache in her heart. Grabbing her bag from the passenger seat, she walked quickly in the chill night air to the house.

"Hey guys, I'm home," she said to Tucker and Church, who were busy playing Halo on XBoxLive in the living room. As expected, they grunted their greetings, and she dropped her things in the hallway and followed the delicious scents to the kitchen.

"Sheila!" Donut, the resident chef, exclaimed in surprise when she entered.

"Hey Donut," she smiled in return as he stepped away from his simmering pots to five her a hug.

"Dinner should be ready soon," he said, returning to his work. "Why don't you go up to your room and relax for a bit? I'll call you when everything's ready."

"Sure thing, boss." She took the dismissal for what it was, knowing how little DOnut liked to be interrupted when he was cooking. Grabbing her bag from the hall she slowly climbed the stairs to her room on the second floor. It was always so lonely when he was gone, and she tended to be out of the house more when he was off on his trips. Steeling herself for the feeling of emptiness she knew was coming, she opened the door.

The candlelight surprised her, her mind immediately jumping to thoughts of uncontrolable fires. That was before she caught sight of the meal laid out on the low table and the figure waiting expectantly at the other end. She froze in the dorrway, not wanting to believe her eyes. "Dick...?"

He smiled gently, rose, and walked around the table to her. He took her bag from her unresisting hands and placed it on the floor, shut the door, and enveloped her in a hug. Without thinking about it she wrapped her arms around his torso and inhaled, relishing the smell of him. After several long moments she spoke again.

"I thought you were supposed to be in Texas," she murmured into his neck. His answering chuckle reverbated through his chest to her.

"They let me come home a little early," he replied softly, pressing a kiss into her hair. She lifted her head and smiled at him.

"You must have had one hell of a reason. They hardly ever let people off trips early." She kissed his cheek, wondering what he'd done to get the time off.

"Well," he grinned, "when I told old Sarge what I wanted to do, he practically forced me onto the plane." She giggled, imagining the grizzled old sergeant pushing him onto a plane.

"And what did you want to do?" she asked, still amused by the mental image. She didn't notice the look of nervousness that flashed across his face. He took a step back from her, one hand dropping to his pocket.

"This," he said simply and dropped to one knee, his hands presenting a small velvet box to her. Slowly, he opened the box and revealed a delicate silver band set with a small diamond. "Sheila, will you marry me?"

Downstairs, Tucker and Church looked up expectantly at Donust as he descended. The young chef grinned and gave the pair a thumbs up. The three looked at each other for a moment.

"Earplugs in tonight, then?" Tucker asked with a grin.

**Author's Note:**

> This is 6 years old now. I hand-wrote it out on notebook paper when I was in France and RvB was in the throes of Season 4, I think. I was also in an RP, playing Sheila. I loved the developing relationship between these two and wanted to explore it more. There's more to this series, and I still like it.


End file.
